Seedy links to Chinese gangs as police hunt murderer with gait

POLICE say they have recovered DNA from the scene of the Digbeth murder – but unusually for such a serious crime, there has been no match on the DNA database.

Police were called to the victim’s flat on Moseley Street at about 7pm on February 9.

Detectives released CCTV of a suspect seen nonchalantly walking away from the scene.

Most of the man’s face is hidden in the footage by a mask while he is wearing a dark hat and clothing and has a distinctive skip-like walk which police highlighted. Few details have been released about Mr Zhang except that he was a Chinese national and his family has been told of his murder.

Officers have said that a woman present at the flat at the time of the murder was threatened by the killer.

Community sources have claimed that Mr Zhang was running a brothel at the Digbeth apartment where he was attacked.

Mr Zhang was stabbed multiple times. Our enquiries in the community suggest he was linked to a Chinese

crime gang which runs brothels in Birmingham and in other parts of the UK.

Chinese gangs operate in a number of UK cities including Manchester, London and Birmingham. Their operations are little known outside of some within the Chinese community.

A £20,000 reward has been offered for information that helps find the killer of Mr Zhang in what police described as a “highly unusual” case.

Detectives have said it is not clear why he was attacked but that robbery was a likely motive although it is uncertain if any money was taken.

“It’s clear the person who killed Mr Zhang is a violent man and we want to catch him as soon as we can,” said Det Insp Mahon previously.

Mr Zhang had been stabbed “numerous times” and it was “quite clear he’d tried to defend himself,” the officer added. The killer is thought to have sustained a hand injury during the attack.

Police have said analysis suggested the recovered samples were almost certainly those of a black person. The force described the suspect as being in his 20s and about 5ft 5ins tall with an average build.

Det Insp Mahon had said: “We’re still trying to establish a motive for this violent crime and are exploring a number of reasons why Mr Zhang was killed in such awful circumstances. The strongest motive is robbery – some demands were made for cash – but with this level of violence we are keeping an open mind to other motives at play.”